A Narrow fellow in the Grass
by Alarnia
Summary: Snake's life was never an easy one. ficlet about how Snake goes from living in a freak show, to learning how to live a normal life.. Or as normal as possible when one has Snake skin and works for the circus.


It stares at the lines in the wood between it's toes. Staring and not really thinking. It's been here too long to hold much humanity anymore, if it ever had any to begin with. No, it's nothing more than a piece of property. It dimly remembered the day it's parent passed the bank note to the older man, who smiled in an oily way before grabbing it's wrist too tightly and dragging it away, which was too confused to protest much. It waved goodbye to it's father for the last time.

It was put in a cage with wheels, and left there to fester. It's needs ignored except for the cheap food thoughtlessly tossed in, spilling over the old wood that the scaly being stared so fixatedly at. It vaguely remembers being bathed on the rare occasion, but mostly he was left alone to be stared and gawked at. _'look __momma __look__ at __it's __skin__!__'__'shh__ baby __you __might __startle __it__, __it__ could__ be __dangerous __you __know' _They'd say, the creature had heard these words on repeat with little variation for almost the entirety of it's life. At first he'd seen their pinched faces, their looks of disgust as they shuffled quickly past it to the next exhibit. But soon It'd learned not to bother looking up at all.

But one day, late in the evening, an uncommon sound greeted his ears. Completely surreal really, It looked up, ignoring it's neck's complaints. The source of the noise, the rusty iron gate squealing loudly as it swung open. A girl and a taller boy with a bony hand beckoning it to come outside. Beyond them it could see his owner being threatened by two others. A woman held him with a whip while a shorter male waved a set of knives threateningly.

When at first it hadn't moved, Freckles placed a gentle hand on it's thin shoulders and guided it outside. It seemed entirely dead to the world and totally compliant. It- or well now it'd been corrected, he was totally obedient, except for a few natural flinches. In some part of his head he realized he was leaving that place, that he was going somewhere new. But he didn't realize how new until after a few hours. When he realized that these people were smiling at him, helping him, showing him kindness, speaking to him as if he were actually human, like he had an identity. He was a boy, one with unusual skin yes, but human and not just a beast like he'd believed himself to be before.

And then he learned shame, and overwhelming embarrassment, and gratitude. There were so many emotions in such a short amount of time. So many new experiences stunning him. The best thing he could do to cope was to withdraw himself. He would isolate himself until he felt he could face the world for a little bit, or sometimes Doll, Dagger, Joker or one of the others would force themselves into his life again. He was be resocialized. He was an infant in a strange new world, and thankfully Snake regained his childish sense of curiosity. He liked learning, but he did it in a way that suited him. By observation.

Thus, these were Snake's first few days of freedom with the first tier members of Noah's Arc Circus.

At first he'd been a charity case. New clothes, a hair cut, food, coddling. Every manner of things that taught Snake how to survive in the world and all the things that made him blush from embarrassment as he began to realize the importance of kindness and friendly touches. Essentially, as Snake learned to care, the more difficult it became for Snake to accept his.. 'friends' generosity. It was making him shy.

So imagine his discomfort when the other's discovered his talents for Snake charming, how he seemed to have a natural grace in his movement. They'd quickly decided that these skills should be put to use, and they'd found someone who could teach him to dance, and they'd fitted him for something more 'showy' for his performance. But somehow Snake had agreed. He thought he should begin working if not for his friends then to repay them for everything they'd done for him.

So practice began, and soon the day was upon him.

Snake sat on a crate, just outside the main tent's back entrance, nervously picking at the grain of the wood. He felt completely on edge, even though his face showed very little sign of it. a great number of his snakes were with him and they did there best to comfort him, But Snake still felt almost sick with nerves.

Tonight would be his first performance as Noah's Arc Snake charmer. He could hear the crowd 'ooh'ing and 'aww'ing from his seat. He thought he should at least stay in the dressing room, but the hustle and bustle only frayed his nerves more. so Snake sat outside in his skimpy performing.. 'clothes', in the cold English air.

The shivering he experienced was a small outlet for his energy, but before long he stood up suddenly to begin pacing back and forth until Beast found him. She dragged him back inside, not that Snake really put up much resistance, he was trying to be anywhere else mentally right now. He was brought to the backstage area, and heard Doll being summoned onstage by Joker's booming voice.

eventually he heard the climax in applause and then the fade, and soon after his name being called. When he didn't go immediately, someone (he wasn't sure who), shoved him through the curtain, and a for a moment Snake stared at the many faces, they seemed to look down at him expectantly, some of which made disgusted faces, and even though Joker gave him an encouraging look, Snake ran back behind the curtain.

He returned to his tent, and burrowed under the covers of his bed (Something he had adjusted to quite smoothly. Considering a mattress was such a luxury compared to a life of sleeping on dirty old wood in a drafty cage.)

He lay there shivering slightly despite the heat trapped within the blankets. But he faces he'd seen.. He'd hated them. It took him back to the days when he was an 'it' He never wanted to step onto that stage ever again.

A few hours passed, or at least it seemed that way to Snake. He didn't really know as he never bothered to look out from underneath his blankets. But he did register the other's shuffling through his tent to get to their own. He thought he was going to be left alone until he felt his mattress bend with extra weight. Someone was sitting at the end.

They laid a comforting hand down on him (or his hip it ended up being, it was hard to aim for a body part when all one could see was a lump under some covers) and Snake identified them to be Joker when he heard his deeper voice, which spoke in gentle tones. Telling him it was alright, and that there was always next time, and he admitted that he and the others had pushed him too hard and too quickly. Snake emerged from the blankets, tired of hiding. He told Joker that it wasn't his fault, that he'd been pushing himself too. Snake said that he wouldn't run away next time. After all, he thought, he could ignore the audience's faces. He'd do it to see the smiles on the faces of people he knew and cared for.


End file.
